The Minister of Magic
by Angry Mob
Summary: Christmas time, book 6, Scrimgeour visits Harry to get him to work with the ministry, Harry accepts on certain conditions. What will this friendship mean for the rest of the wizarding world? Re-post. Slight Ron bashing. Harry/Hermione.
1. War Over Politics

This is a re-post of a story I wrote part of a little while ago. I didn't like it, so am doing it again.

-- Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter --

Please Review.

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The Minister of Magic

Chapter 1 – War Over Politics

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"Well if anybody cared to show me you charming garden…ah that young man's finished, why doesn't he take a stroll with me?"

The atmosphere around the table changed perceptibly. Everyone looked from Scrimgeour to Harry. Nobody seemed to find Scrimgeour's pretence that he did not know Harry's name convincing, or find it natural that he should be chosen to accompany the minister around the garden when Ginny, Fleur and George also had clean plates.

"Yeah, all right," said Harry into the silence.

He was not fooled; for all Scrimgeour's talk that they had just been in the area, that Percy wanted to look up his family, this must be the real reason that they had come, so that Scrimgeour could speak to Harry alone.

"It's fine," he said quietly, as he passed Lupin, who had half-risen from his chair. "Fine," he added as Mr Weasley opened his mouth to speak.

"Wonderful!" Said Scrimgeour, standing back to let Harry pass through the door ahead of him. "We'll just take a turn around the garden and then Percy and I'll be off. Carry on, everyone!"

Harry walked across the yard towards the Weasleys' overgrown, snow-covered garden, Scrimgeour limping slightly at his side. He had, Harry knew, been the Head of the Auror Office; he looked tough and battle-scarred, very different from portly Fudge in his bowler hat.

"Charming," said Scrimgeour, stopping at the garden fence and looking out over the snowy lawn and the indistinguishable plants. "Charming."

"I've wanted to meet you for a very long time," said Scrimgeour, after a few moments, watching Harry out of the corner of his eye. "Did you know that?"

"No," said Harry truthfully.

"Oh yes, for a very long time. But Dumbledore has been very protective of you," said Scrimgeour. "Natural, of course, natural, after what you've been through … especially what happened at the ministry …"

He waited for Harry to say something, but Harry did not oblige, so he went on, "I have been hoping for an occasion to talk to you ever since I gained office, but Dumbledore has – most understandable, as I say – prevented this. The rumours that have flown around! All these whispers of a prophecy … of you being the 'Chosen One' … I assume Dumbledore has discussed these matters with you?"

After a while of watching the flower beds for a while he decided on the truth … or a bit of it. "Yeah, we've discussed it."

"Have you, have you …" Scrimgeour said, squinting at Him. "And what has Dumbledore told you, Harry?"

Sorry, but that's between us,' said Harry, keeping his voice as pleasant as possible.

"Of course, sorry for nosing in." he fell silent for a bit, as if carefully choosing his words.

"Well people believe you _are_ the Chosen One, you see, they think your quite the hero – which of course you are Harry, chosen or not! How many times have you faced He Who Must Not Be Named now? Well anyway the point is you are a symbol of hope for many, Harry. The idea that there is someone out there who might be able, who might even be _destined_ to destroy He Who Must Not Be Named – well naturally it gives people a lift, keep heads up, encourage them to keep fighting"

"What I'm offering is for you to come to the Ministry once in a while, show your face to the media and some of the staff, tell them their doing a good job, and go home."

"You'll be benefiting too, I can give you the opportunity to speak to my successor Gawain Robards, who is Head of the Auror Office, I understand that you cherish an ambition to become an Auror. Well that can be arranged very easily." Scrimgeour looked at Harry so intently that Harry felt awkward and resumed staring at the Gnome who had just managed to get hold of a worm, and was now tugging very hard on it, trying to get it out of the frozen ground.

"So basically," Harry said as though clarifying the minister's speech "you'd like to think I'm working for the ministry, and I get to become an Auror."

"Work with the ministry, Harry, not for it. Although if you need money, that's no issue, but it'll be on your terms, and you can come in whenever and with whomever you like" Scrimgeour said, trying to calm Harry down.

"On my terms…right." Harry looked up to see Scrimgeour's hopefully face. "I want Umbridge and Fudge out of there…"

"Harry, we can't just get rid of people just like that, they made mistakes, but they're still important parts of the ministry, I mean we can just go around…"

"Umbridge tortured me and my friends last year, she sent Dementors after me, and Fudge, Fudge delayed the news of Voldemort's return by a year." Harry raised his hand with the words 'I must not lie' printed across them, daring the minister to object.

"Alright Harry, alright, I'll get rid of them, is that all?" He said sighing

"Nope, I want criminals tested with Veritiserum before their thrown in Azkaban. My godfather was an innocent man, yet you left him to rot in there for thirteen years. That includes all the current prisoners like Stan Shunpike, as well as future ones."

"Harry, we can't go dishing out truth potion to everyone we bring in. There are only five people in the last twenty years who have been able to make it."

"Snape didn't seem to have any trouble last year, I distinctly remember him giving Umbridge a bottle containing over 50 portions. Something like that could last the ministry a few years, if you were cleverer at using it that that cow was."

"Anything else?"

"We need more Aurors. I heard last time Voldemort recruited the Werewolves and Vampires. Also he has a generation of Slytherins to recruit from. We need to do the same. Send people to talk to all the different species, give more money to the Dementors, train normal ministry employees to protect themselves."

"I can't do that, we don't have the money for a start, and am I just suppose to tell everyone to stop working and take self defence lessons. The magical world would shut down, they'd be chaos, people would…"

"Oh stop whining, remember this is a war minister, not politics. People are only remembered for losing or winning wars, not staying in power for the longest. What do you immediately think of when I say Dumbledore?"

"Defeat of Grindelwald."

"What about Fudge?"

"Pinstriped suit with bowler hat?" Scrimgeour looked at Harry who groaned and motioned for him to continue"

"Idiot who let Voldemort put his foot in the door?"

Harry grinned. "Exactly, in ten years time do you want to be Rufus Scrimgeour, the Minister who let Voldemort take over the world, or do you want to be the hero of twenty first century who helped defeat He Who Should Be Named?"

"Let's look at it another way, if you don't do something, Voldemort will take over, and you obviously won't be Minister any longer as you'll be dead."

Scrimgeour stool looking off into the distance, mulling over Harry's words. "You're just like Dumbledore aren't you, but better, as I'm not forced to eat a Sherbet Lemon every time I speak to you…that sour taste in your mouth lasts for weeks…" He snapped out of it, and looked up to see Harry chuckling to himself.

"Should I take that as a compliment?"

"Defiantly a compliment, after all he is regarded as the greatest wizard of our time, what with Dragons blood and Dark Wizards."

"OK, so do you agree?"

"It seems you've changed my mind. You know you'd make a good Minister with arguments like that… I'll talk with Dumbledore, he's has probably already sent people to talk with the different species, and knows all the students that have been through Hogwarts for the last fifty odd years. Yes I'll do that, and you can be sure they'll announce it in the papers, so you can check up on that. Now is there anything else?"

"Not too much right?"

"Nope, just a few press conferences."

"Centred around helping people protect themselves."

"…Not Politics," Scrimgeour added, a grin tugging at the edges of his mouth. "And some private training if you or any of your friends would like it. You can send an owl, just make sure to send it to Minister Scrimgeour's Office, rather than to me personally, or the letter will never get through. We had a few problems last week involving cursed items through the post, so we got a few Goblin wards set up."

Harry let the Minister finish speaking, and help out his hand. Scrimgeour smiled again, and clasped Harry's with his.

On the way back into the house, Harry turned his head to see the Minister still there watching him walk away, the smile still on his grizzled face. "Oh, and Author Weasley could really do with a pay rise."

"Head of Muggle Relations is free, I'm push through the paperwork Monday." He murmured, looking up to see Harry had walked back inside, and in his place was his Personal assistant, glasses skewed, and Mashed potatoes being quickly wiped from his face.

"I'm sorry Minister, my family has always been ignorant to the ministry, choosing to blindly server Dumbledore, I on the other hand have my career in mind, and left while I could. I don't know why Dad, bothers, I mean I've only been working at the Ministry for two and a bit years and…"

"…you are still a secretary, while your Dad is a head of department. Now let's got Weatherby."


	2. Jealousy

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The Minister of Magic

Chapter 2 - Jealousy

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"Harry! What was that about?" Hermione asked anxiously, beckoning him over to where she and Ron were sitting, trying to avoid the verbal battle between Mrs Weasley and the twins in the next room.

"Oh Rufus wanted to know what I thought about working with the ministry." Harry said nonchalantly, "Who got Percy so worked up?"

"You're on first name bases with the minister now are you?" Ron sneered. "Let me guess, he offered you front page on the daily prophet. Maybe if you keep kissing his arse you'll get an order of Merlin."

"Ronald!" Hermione stuttered. "I'm sure Harry has a good reason for talking with the minister, after all we could get a lot of help by working with the ministry rather than against them all the time."

"One problem: Harry's head would be too big to fit through the public entrance; they'd have to build a new entrance for him. Make sure when they do, there's enough room for the press to get some nice pictures." He shouted bitterly, and stomped off upstairs.

"What the..." Harry gasped, but couldn't finish the sentence as Hermione angrily put a hand over his mouth.

"Oh come on Harry. You can't say you didn't expect Ron to be jealous." Hermione lectured. "He should be older that that now, but that's beside the point. He'll get over it in a bit. Now tell me what happened..."

Harry spent the next few weeks either stuck up in Hermione's room, or on his broomstick. The only times he'd see Ron were when he was forced to climb the long stairs up to the top room in the burrow every night to go to sleep. Ron still refused to talk to him, and just grunted whenever Harry tried to start a conversation, which Harry began to find a bit annoying.

Harry wished for his old friend back, it wasn't that he didn't enjoy Hermione's company, quite the opposite, but he missed the banter, the risks, and laughs of having Ron as his best friend. Although he didn't like it, he knew he was getting a heck of a lot more stuff done without Ron. Hermione finally decided that the threat of Voldemort was more important than how well she did in the exams, and they had been looking through every advanced defence against the dark arts and duelling book they could find. They were making surprising headway, practicing what spells were safe on the gnomes in the garden, making good moving targets, while they hid out of sight of the burrow and Mrs Weasley's protective glare to try more dangerous spells. Most of the books Hermione had managed to sneak out of Hogwart's library at the end of last term, however they had found a few around the house, notably safer than the others yet still useful, and Hermione had managed to sneak out one afternoon and buy a few books from Flourish and Blotts.

Harry knew this wouldn't put him anywhere near the level he would need to be at to fight with Voldemort, however it was a good start, and he presumed a good ground point for learning more advanced spells.

When he wasn't cooped up in Hermione's and Ginny's shared or out with Hermione and sometimes Ginny practicing the spells, Harry had taken up Quddich practice as a way to relax and re-leave the stress that came with working with magic, and general life at the Burrow. That and the confidence boost that came with knowing for sure there was something he was good at.

He would spend most of the evenings zigzagging through the trees of the nearby woods so as to avoid getting seen. One night, after a particularly nasty dream about Voldemort, he sneaked out of the house when he was sure Ron was asleep, and took his Firebolt out for a ride. Without the limitations of being seen, Harry was able to go where ever he wanted. The feeling of exhilaration and freedom was so great he continued every night, each time growing with confidence in the amount of distance he travelled till two weeks since he and Ron had fallen out, Harry found himself flying fairly low over London.

He was forced to change direction slightly when he noticed Heathrow airport approaching, and somehow he found himself somehow being drawn towards Grimauld Place. Even though he didn't know exactly how to get there, he remembered flashes of his journey there by broom before.

"Hello." Harry shouted into the blackness as he walked cautiously into the entrance hall of the ancient house.

'What am I doing here? Am I insane, Sirius isn't here, he's dead, so what are you looking for?' Harry asked himself, but ignoring his conscience Harry continued forward. His head snapped up suddenly when he heard a noise from above, a creaking of floorboards.

He pulled out his wand, and gripped it a bit tighter, slowly climbing the stairs. He was half way up when he an eerie creak sounded from the stair he'd just put his foot on. Cursing his stupidity for not casting a silencing spell on himself, he listened for anymore sound of movement, but everything was silent. Reassuring himself that he hadn't been imagining the sound, Harry hadn't even made it up another two steps before a beam of red light struck him in the chest, and he fell backwards into thin air unable to reach out and grab anything.

Unfortunately, the stunning spell didn't prevent you from hearing anything. If it did, he would have been saved the deafening shrieks coming from Sirius's mother's portrait which unluckily for Harry was a mere few feet above his head.

The screaming continued, but didn't quite manage to drown out the sound of someone hurrying down the stairs. The noise abruptly stopped when a beam of blue light just in Harry's field of vision stuck the picture.

"Ow, look if it isn't little Potter, what are you doing here out past your bed time? The Dark lord will be pleased." The high pitched voice giggled insanely, "Good thing I didn't kill you, my master wants' you nice an' fresh, ready to have some fun."

"Bellatrix Lestrange. Kreacher you Evil Bastard! I'll teach you to let scum into this house. It belongs to me, and as soon as I get free, you'll pay for what you did to Sirius."

"Well it's a good thing you're not going to escape then isn't it. Now let's see that pretty face of yours again." She cackled and her face swayed into Harry's blurred vision.

"What the..."

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AN: Sorry for the late post. I've had a really busy year so far...collage year, not calendar year, as we're only a few days in ;) Sorry for any typo's, this is a loaned laptop I'm working on, so it doesn't have all the names and stuff keyed into the spell checker.

I've got a new Naruto story out as well so please check it out, it won't be slowing down this story so don't worry.

I've only bothered keeping the first chapter from the last post of this story, and even that's changed a bit, so hope you like the improvements.

Thanks for reading, and please review.


	3. Sounds like Sound Advise

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The Minister of Magic

Chapter 3 - Sounds like Sound Advise

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_"Well it's a good thing you're not going to escape then isn't it. Now let's see that pretty face of yours again." She cackled and her face swayed into Harry's blurred vision._

"What the...Tonks! What are you doing?"

"Pretending to be aunty Bella and giving you a scare. How you doing Harry?"

"Fine, apart from a severely injured nervous system, what are you doing here?"

"I was looking through some of Sirius's stuff. Dumbledore has managed to get enough evidence to clear his name, so they'll be holding a proper reading of the will soon. This house is only a small section of the black family's stuff, and the only reason Sirius could pass it on to Dumbledore was because he names handed over the deeds to Dumbledore a few months before he dies, giving him ward-ship of the house till a suitable person could be found to take it."

"But how does that make me suitable, surely Dumbledore would be much…"

"Aha, but the old codger's been keeping some secrets, because I've just been inspecting the Black family tree, and you're the nineteenth heir to the black family line, your father was vaguely related to Sirius."

"So Dumbledore gave me the house to look after, till a black family heir is announced, and now Sirius's name is being cleared, they'll be a will reading to decide who that person is. Is that it?"

"In politics, nothings ever 'it' but that's most. So how's it at the Burrow?"

"Hell."

"And Molly wonders why I keep turning down her invitations to come. I'd have thought with all your friends there, that you'd be having some fun…that's if Ron and Hermione haven't started…" She nudged Harry and winked.

"What?"

"Dating you idiot. Even I can see Ron fancied Hermione, and I haven't had a date in two years. Problem is, Hermione doesn't want to upset Ron, as she doesn't want to have no friends like what happened over their pets."

"How would that make the Burrow worse, at least they'd stop arguing with each other."

"Well you'd be miserable for a start, as you fancy Hermione." Tonks grinned at Harry's startled expression and held up her hand to ward of his objections. "Then Hermione wouldn't be happy as she'd think no-one else would love her again, so she'd do anything to stop Ron dumping her, and Ron would get impatient and dump Hermione eventually as she isn't as good looking as Fleur."

"Just because Hermione isn't a Veela, doesn't mean she's not beautiful."

"And we get back round to square one, Harry fancying Hermione."

Harry groaned, realizing he'd fallen for it, and held up his hands in defeat as she danced around the room giggling. "Now you should ask her before Ron does. I know she likes you, but she doesn't think you like her, so take your chance before the ginger arse-hole does."

"Hey Ron's my best mate."

"Not what I've been hearing. I went shopping with Fleur the other day. Apparently Ron hasn't been speaking to anyone for days, and he's even given up opening the door and pulling out Fleur's chair every time he sees her. Not the best material for best friend eh? A jealous, arrogant, big-headed loser, with an overload of hormones and no-where but a tissue to shoot them."

"Tonks!"

"Oh alright, now I've got something interesting to show you, Fleur told me how much time you and Hermione are spending training. I found an interesting book describing some of the Black estate, and a few books on inheritance rituals that maybe you should read up on before next Friday." Harry send a questioning look her way. "We've arranged a meeting with the goblins, the case about Sirius is on Wednesday. Dumbles will be picking you up Friday morning, and then taking me and you somewhere on Saturday."

"Right, thanks Tonks." Harry said, his mind still trying to catch up with her mad ramblings.

"I've got to go," She leaned in close to Harry and whispered in his ear. "You better tell Hermione your feelings for her, or I'll put Millicent Bullstrode under the imperious curse, and have her accost you in a Hogwarts broom cupboard."

Harry gulped, finding a small amount of reassurance in the fact there were no broom cupboards in Hogwarts big enough to fit the Slytherin in, let alone both of them.

Harry cleared his throat, and speaking in a slightly higher voice then normal: "I'll keep that in mind, thanks for the books and advise Tonks."

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Harry got back at around three in the morning, and after a roasting from Mrs Weasley about the time, and a vague explanation about getting lost on the road of life, I mean on a walk, He crept up the stairs to keep from waking the rest of the Weasley family.

Hearing muffled voices inside Ron's room; he put his ear to the door and listened.

"…but I don't want to Ron"

"Oh go on Hermione, it's not like all the others in our year aren't doing this. Last year Seamus and Lavender did, and Dean said she loved it."

"Well she didn't! She spent two days off lessons crying because Seamus dumped her immediately after."

"Well I'm not going to am I? We both love each other, don't we? Why can't you do this little thing for me?"

Harry had had enough, he crept down a few stairs, then climbed them making as much noise as he could, making sure to step on the creaky floorboard outside the door, and knocked loudly.

Hearing nothing but panicky murmuring, and some quick movement, Harry opened the door to see a panting Hermione sitting on Harry's mattress, and a smirking Ron lying on his bed.

"What's going on here?" Harry asked, faking a curious expression.

"Nothing, we were just talking about…Quiddich."

"Hermione. It's not my mum, it's only Harry. Me and Hermione are going out now mate." Harry could detect a level of smugness in the red head's voice that he'd only heard Percy manage before.

"That's nice, good luck." Harry said, keeping his tone as unconcerned as possible. "As long as you don't hurt Hermione, and treat her with the respect you normally do Ron, then you two will do well."

"Don't worry about us mate, we've fancied each other for a while now, you just aren't in love, so you won't have noticed it. So where have you been."

Harry almost punched Ron in the face. How had he not noticed what a total dick Ron was. Maybe he was too afraid of losing his friendship that he ignored all the times Ron was jealous, or got angry, or insulted him. "Oh I was with Tonks at Grimauld place, needed a bit of Privacy." Harry almost burst out laughing as Ron's face turned bright red. 20% embarrassment, 40% anger, 40% jealousy Harry guessed. He congratulated himself on subconsciously turning the truth into innuendo.

"Well I'm tired. You should know better than to wake us all up just so you could boast. Save it for the morning next time." Ron growled, pulling the covers up to his chin in what he obviously considered to be a dignified manner.

Harry smirked while Hermione looked over at Ron anxiously. "Goodnight Ron." He merely grunted a reply, and rolled over to face the wall.

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AN: This took around an hour to write, suddenly the motivation appeared in my head, so I apologise if it feels a bit rushed. Its short I know, but I wanted to get started again. Sorry about the big gap in updates, I re-organised my computer, and couldn't find the work I'd already done on this story, but I'm back now, and hopefully will be posting more frequently.

Cheers


	4. Black

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The Minister of Magic

Chapter 4 - Black

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'What the hell had gotten into Ron?' Harry asked himself as he lay in bed, listening to the loud snores coming from his _friend's_ bed. He knew Ron was jealous of his fame, but for him to blow up and not talk to Harry over something was unusual, but for talking with the minister?

It was a few days since Ron and Hermione had gotten together. He'd asked Ginny the next day after what had happened. Apparently Ron had confessed he'd always loved Hermione, and thought that she liked Harry, so was jealous. They'd gone out for a picnic that day, which in Ginny's eyes, made the whole thing extremely romantic.

Ginny had made it clear to Harry that she liked him, but he wasn't sure he felt the same. Everyone seemed to think he and Ginny were perfect for each other, he wasn't the best at noticing, but even he could see Mrs Weasley's not so subtly making the two of the do ever job together. One of the few times Ron had spoken to him, was when the three of them were De-Gnoming the garden together. Ginny's jeans had slipped slightly, causing Ron to nudge him slightly, and whisper, "You like red-heads, Thomas wouldn't stand a chance if you wanted to claim her."

That was another thing. Ron and all the other boys in his dorm, all assumed he liked red heads because his mother was one. The thing was Ginny was nice, but a bit too nice. She reminded him of Colin Creevy. It was like she had never grown out of her childhood crush. Also he had seen her and Dean together, and it looked to him she was a little too demanding.

Harry got up and shook his head to clear his thoughts, he'd just have to see how things went, no use thinking about them for hours. It was about seven in the morning, and the burrow lay silent. It was New years day, so they had all stayed up late, so Harry wasn't surprised to see that Molly Weasley wasn't up cooking breakfast yet.

For some reason Harry never slept well. Maybe it was from his days with the Dursley's when he used to wake up at the crack of dawn to cook them breakfast, then stay up late finishing the chores he was given to guarantee he had food the next day. At school his sleep had been periodically interrupted by the mad raving lunatic through his scar, so all in all it was no surprise that he woke early.

After a jog around the grounds of the burrow a few times, he headed back inside to have a shower, and a quick bowl of cereal. Hearing signs of life from upstairs, Harry scribbled a quick note to say he'd gone out on his broom, then picked up his bag and broom and took off.

Finding the spot he'd been using for the past few days, hidden from the house by a large clump of trees near the edge of the wards. He pulled a thick black book out of the bag, entitled simply 'The most Nobel House of Black'. Harry found his bookmark, and heaved the book open to about the halfway stage, and began to read.

As far as he could tell, if he was made the black family heir, which Tonks seemed to think he would, then he would get the family ring, which according to the book had some sort of power, God knows what that was, there would be a seat on the Wizengamot . According to the book there were a few similarities between the Wizengamot and the ministry, and the two overlapped in some places, however it essentially bore down to the Wizengamot making the laws, and the Ministry enforcing them.

There were fifty seats overall, twenty filled by the oldest pureblood families, fifteen were filled by key members of the ministry, and the last fifteen were voted on by the public for four year spells.

The Black family also had three other properties aside from Grimmauld Place, assuming they all still stood, after all the book had to be over fifty years old. The first was a cottage somewhere in Scotland, a few miles away from Malfoy manor. The two families used to be quite chummy, which the author of the book was particularly eager to say over and over again.

Discarding that one, Harry looked at the next, a Mansion somewhere in the midlands. There was a picture of a huge beautiful two story manor. It was made of gray stone, with Ivy starting to grow up on side. Harry was a bit taken aback, but figured not all the black family were raving lunatics like Bellatrix Lestrange, and not every dark witch or wizard likes living in evil underground lairs.

The book gave a brief overview of Grimmauld place which was the public front of the black family, which is why, Harry assumed, there were the numerous portraits and artefacts, to show off to visitors. The fourth house was only briefly mentioned. It was on a private island, somewhere in the Mediterranean. There were no passwords or instructions of how to get into this house though, so Harry guessed he wouldn't be donning his suntan lotion just yet.

Harry eventually moved onto other items, like the extensive Gringotts accounts the Black family had scattered throughout the world. Looking at the security ratings on some of them, Harry concluded he could sell the vaults themselves, and live comfortable for the rest of his life, let alone what was inside the vaults, and not including the small fortune he currently had access to in his 'Potter' account.

Reading the book, Harry started to realize how much he wanted the black family name. Total immunity from underage wizard laws, the protective wards that the houses would grant him, independence from the Dursley's and Dumbledore, political power, even his own newspaper. The list was endless, and he wandered what would happen if Tonks was wrong, and Sirius had names someone else to be the head of the black family.

He was shaken out of that train of thought, and he heard a sound from behind the tree he was propped against. Harry turned around, and grinned when he saw Tonks walking towards him.

"Hi Harry, I've got an idea for a bit of fun, you want in?"

- TWO DAYS LATER -

"The last will and Testament of Mister Sirius Orion Black:" The goblin began in an imperious self important voice. He paused, and sniffed slightly, and continued in a pompous voice.

"Yo. As Beardo will have probably already not told you, I'm heir of the Black family, however as I am a criminal I can't become head, as the long fingered…goblins keep telling me." Harry smirked in between silent tears, and suspected the Goblin had left out a few choice words. "For my little niece Nymphadora, I think I'll leave some money and a pair of auto-correct glasses, oh and the Troll's leg umbrella stand, and the brilliant thing, I'm already dead, so you can't kill me." Tonks, sitting next to Harry burst into tears, wailing into his shoulder. Harry, a bit unsurely, patted her on the shoulder, and squeezed her against him.

The goblin looked like he'd seen it all before, and waited till the noise subsided, and continued. "To Moony, I leave even more money, as you looking even worse than Malfoy in Azkaban at the moment, and you need to impress Tonks." Remus was too silently crying, but blushed at the last bit, and sneaked a sideways look at Tonks. Harry felt a bit guilty as the Metamorphic was still clinging to his shoulder, but even he could see she was too old for him.

"To Dumbledore I leave nothing, cuz I know he'll spend it all on Lemon drops, and he gets paid enough from the fifty different positions he's already got. Harry looked up to see Dumbledore twinkling away, a small tear leaked out of an eye, and Dumbledore smiled slightly at Harry. "A few too many sweet tooth's. Madam Pomphrey had to re-grow my teeth twice last year." Dumbledore said in a conspiratorial whisper to Harry, who grinned.

"Quite." The goblin interrupted, and glared at Dumbledore. "To the Order, I leave a lot of money, so Dung doesn't have to steal the silverware from Grimmauld place, and members can start getting paid." Harry looked around wildly, and only saw Order members there; however there were three other goblins listening and taking notes. Dumbledore seemed to have read his thoughts, and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Client confidentiality, the Goblins can't tell anyone what happened in here." Harry nodded, remembering Hermione telling him something like that the last time they had come to the wizarding bank.

"And finally To Harry Potter I leave everything else. There's a book you should probably read in Grimmauld place somewhere describing most of what the black family owns, and everything else you can find out from the Goblins. They should give you a ring, and do some weird inheritance ritual that makes you head of the black family. Not everyone was evil in this family, and I want you to forge a new reputation. You gave me back my life Harry, I want nothing else but to die saving you, so I hope I got there in time. Now find yourself a hot girlfriend and have a ball. James and Lily would be proud of you."

The goblin stopped, and motioned to Dumbledore. "You don't have to accept this Harry, but I seriously recommend it, and after all this is over, I want to show you something."

Harry nodded, and the Goblin walked over to him, and held out a small golden ring. Holding it up to his eye, Harry could see a string of rubies embedded in the gold, but otherwise nothing else. "I believe the late Mr Black removed the insignia, but it should work just as well. Putting it on, and saying this spell will make you Black family head…"

* * *

I'm sure you want to go back to the Burrow, and meet your friends; however I decided it was getting late, and seeing as tomorrow you will be returning to school, I brought your possessions here." Harry nodded, and sat down in the seat opposite the Headmaster.

"What did you want to show me Sir?"

"This." The old man moved his wand to his temple, and extracted a silvery memory, and placed in the pensive between the two. I witnessed give his will at Gringotts. He didn't write it, rather tell a goblin who wrote it down and sealed it, so no-one could open this will until the official reading. I know it's a bit late, but this is my Christmas present." He motioned to the pensive sitting before them. I got it before Christmas, but thought this would be a more appropriate time to give it to you."

Harry couldn't say anything, but smiled up at the old man, who seemed to understand.

"If you remember out last session before Christmas, we were looking at Merope Gaunt, and Tom Riddle Junior in the orphanage. I have to be out of school a lot this term, so am leaving copies of all the memories I have on the subject for you." He pulled out four glass phials with numbers written on small labels. "I want you to pay particular attention to the second memory, and try to get the original from the owner. I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Dumbledore sat back, and smiled at Harry kindly. "Any questions?"

"I read the book Sirius mentioned, and it mentioned a house, could I stay there over Easter?"

"If you read the book, then I'm sure you know that you are the equivalent of an adult in the wizarding world, so I am no longer your guardian, so you can do what you want."

"I would still like your permission sir."

"I can only say it's an excellent idea. With the prophesy and everything, I know I haven't been the best at training you." He held up a hand to stall Harry. "It's true, I didn't want to make your life any harder, however maybe I can rectify that with a few books and suggestions before you go."

Later that night Harry lay down in the deserted Gryffindor common room, and flicked through the three books Dumbledore had given him: _The complete guide to Occlumency and Legimency_, by Michel Gryffindor; _50 types of dark magic, and how to protect from them_, which had no author name shown and; _How to defeat Dark Lords_, by Albus Dumbledore.

* * *

AN: Woah lots of complaints about Ron's behaviour and him and Hermione. There is a reason for this, and you'll just have to wait a bit to find out everything. I do sort of know where this is going, so don't worry.

Thanks to everyone for the reviews so far, especially _GinnyLover14_, _Hlpur_ and _Redbird27_ who helped me with certain aspects of the plot, and to everyone else, you guys are awesome: _karekid2004,__ginny75, kubas89, GinnyLover14, DeathlyPheonix, tallica343, The French Dark Lord, Monomu, magicboots, pstibbons, Hlpur, CMurk, harmony09, mysteryman2000, Anime Princess._


	5. Jewellery

* * *

The Minister of Magic

Chapter 5 - Jewellery

* * *

Harry wandered the school halls aimlessly waiting for his friends to get there. He'd watched all the memories Dumbledore had given him, and was pondering how he was going to get Slughorn to reveal the true memory. He could try to trick or force the head of Slytherin into giving him the memory, but Harry guessed that if it could be done then Dumbledore would've already done it. Instead he thought Harry could do it for some reason, so why would Slughorn give something to Harry that he had denied an old colleague.

Harry pondered this for a few minutes till he noticed his leg's had led to the seventh floor corridor outside the room of requirement. He really didn't know what he wanted to do, so simply decided on the same room they had used for the DA last year. He relaxed on some of the cushions, and started the book on Occlumency and Legimency.

The further into the book he got, the more annoyed at Snape he became. The reason he wasn't furious was because of the Occlumency exercises he'd been practicing to keep his mind clear, so strong emotions wouldn't affect him as much.

Then there was the shielding of the mind part. It seemed Snape had only taught him one method of keeping people out of his mind. Emptying his mind was listed as one of the more difficult methods, and simply stopped the invader from seeing anything when they got into his mind. There were two other methods. One, to build barriers around his thoughts within his mind; Harry didn't quite understand the concept of how this worked, but when he tested it out it seemed that all he had to do was imagine barriers appearing round his thoughts and memories protecting them inside his mind.

The second looked much more interesting to Harry. It involved attacking the Legimency with so many negative memories or with a large quantity of mundane tasks that they couldn't keep up and were forced out of his mind. He smirked to himself when he thought of how he would force Snape out of his mind with all the memories he had of Sirius when he was alive. This also required another skill to be used effectively: sensing when someone is trying to see inside your mind.

* * *

"Hermione, where's Harry?"

"He had to go Sirius's will reading at Gringotts."

"He's Harry Godfather who fell through the archway." Luna looked pensive for a moment before returning to her dreamy self. "Poor Harry, he hasn't been sleeping well since."

"Harry seems fine to me, fine enough to be seducing that pink haired bitch." Ron added bitterly.

"Ron!" Hermione almost shouted, removing his arm from around her shoulders. "What's your problem, I've talked to Tonks, and nothing happened, Harry was just joking."

"You're obviously not a very good best friend if you haven't noticed the bags under his eyes, and you even sleep in the same dormitory as him." Luna commented mildly.

"Now Luna, Ron's got a lot of difficult things to go through at the moment."

"Right, if you say so." Luna replied in what was probably the most sarcastic voice she could manage. "Ron what's that bracelet you're wearing?"

"It's something Percy gave me when he came to visit at Christmas; it gives me protection from minor spells, and from people reading my thoughts. He thought because I get into the most danger being with Harry all the time, that

"It looks like it's infested with flubbing-birds, you should get rid of it as soon as possible." Luna

* * *

Five hours later Harry turned the last page of his book and absently glanced at his watch, taking a few seconds for realisation to hit home.

"Shit! The feast!" He jumped to his feet and rushed out of the room. He dropped by Gryffindor tower to dump the two books in his trunk, and fling some robes around him before rushing to the great hall.

Harry entrance was not as planned. Rather than slipping into the hall, and finding his place at the Gryffindor table Mrs Norris chose that moment to demonstrate how evil cat's can be when they want to. Harry went flying into the door, crashing it open, and sprawling out onto the polished floor of the great hall.

"Sorry 'bout that." Harry said, climbing to his feet quickly, and looking round at the hall. "Lost track of time an all."

"Yes well maybe you should sit down Mr Potter, and we can finish the sorting."Professor McGonagall said tartly, not wanting to get angry on the first day of term in front of the whole school.

"Sure." Harry replied, ambling over to join Hermione and Ron at the top end of the Gryffindor table.

"Let's continue, Melisa Roberts..." McGonagall called out shrilly.

"Where've you been Harry." Hermione asked impatiently, waving Neville to move up so there was room next to his two best friends.

"I lost track of time, and Dumbledore brought me here to tell me some stuff after the will reading,"

"Oh, how did it go?" Hermione asked, her curiosity getting the better of her common sense, seeing as they were surrounded by a bunch of ear flapping Gryffindor.

"Alright, now quiet I want to watch the sorting, somehow I always seem to miss them." Harry quickly changed the subject, noticing Ron's jealous glance in his direction.

Back in the common room after the sorting and feast had finished, Harry made a bee-line for the stairs to the dormitory, ignoring the calls, and acknowledgments he was getting from his peers.

A couple of minutes later Ron entered the sixth year dormitories, muttering an unintelligible greeting, then sitting on the foot of his bed, glaring at his feet moodily.

"What's that ring? Showing off to the girls?" Ron sneered, meeting Harry's eyes for the first time.

"So what if I am, you're no better with that bracelet of yours." Harry didn't feel like telling Ron the truth. They were supposed to be best friends, but all the red head had done since Christmas was act sarcastic and hostile towards him. And besides, knowing Harry was head of the black estate would hardly help his jealousy issues.

"That's for my protection, and to keep people from looking at my thoughts."

"Important for the good of the world then. If anyone decided to invade your mind, they'd go crazy from boredom."

Ron jumped to his feet, drawing his wand from his pocket, and pointing it at Harry's chest, a manic look appearing in his eyes. Harry glanced to his bedside table at his wand, but Ron was closer, and he quickly picked it up and threw it to the other side of the room.

"Don't think I won't do it, I've had enough of you Potter." Ron almost shouted.

"What you going to do, kill me? You wouldn't have the gut's. Anyway, we're suppose to be best friends aren't we. What's happened to you Ron?"

"Nothing!"

Noticing something strange, Harry looked deeper into his mind, finding different emotions, worry, anticipation and anger, at...himself. Somehow he was seeing Ron's thoughts. Realizing he was looking Ron straight in the eyes, Harry mentally probed his thoughts. He slipped in easily, finding almost no resistance at all.

As soon as he entered, he was almost overwhelmed with images. Remembering what the books had said, Harry began embracing the images, flicking his eye's over them then 'throwing' them away if they were no use.

Ron recoiled, clutching his head with his two hands in agony, reminding Harry that only experts in Legimenncy could read a mind unnoticed, and without causing pain.

Hearing people running towards them on the stairs, and noticing Ron's wand had fallen out of his hand onto the floor, Harry quickly withdrew from his mind, but not before one particularly vivid image flashed in front of his face.

Both boys collapsed to the floor clutching their heads in pain. Harry finally raised his head to look at the prone form of his former best friend with venom.

"You Bastard!"

* * *

AN: Another cliff hanger, yippy. Hopefully next chapter will allay a few people's fears about Ron and Hermione. See look I gave you a clue.

Really sorry for the long wait. I've got some new ideas for this story though, so after I've finished my exams, hopefully I can begin to get it properly started. I'm also going to change some of the first four chapters as reading them through again I really dislike some bits.

Thanks for reading!


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